Ascribing value to ecological processes: an economic view of environmentalchange

Decisions made by individual landowners and public land managers can have a significant impact on the rates of ecological change. Interdisciplinary co operation is desirable if economists and ecologists are to correctly interp ret the impacts of individual choices for landscape management. This paper reports results from two studies of the residents of North Carolina which c ontrast individual preferences for utilitarian forest benefits and financia l returns with less tangible benefits of forest amenities and ecosystem sta bility. One study reports preliminary findings from a forest-benefit mail s urvey on the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests; the second study presen ts an analysis of harvest decisions by private landowners. Economic methods pertinent to valuation of environmental goods are briefly considered. Indi vidual behavior is described which suggests that segments of the public rec ognize welfare benefits specifically from forest amenities, and from 'natur al' production of environmental goods and services. The two studies suggest how economic tools may be extended to help quantify complex social and bio logical Values associated with ecological processes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.